It's not just Shiffrin and Vonn. The US Ski Team has multiple medal contenders for the Olympics

SAALBACH-HINTERGLEMM, Austria (AP) — A year before the Winter Olympics, the U.S. Ski Team just had a performance to remember.

The women’s squad won medals in four out of five events at the world championships in Austria and also had two fourth places. The Americans finished fourth in the mixed team parallel. And the men just missed the podium with a fourth in the new team combined race.

The only event the women did not win a medal in was the slalom, when Mikaela Shiffrin — the winningest slalom skier in history — placed fifth just behind teammate Paula Moltzan in fourth.

With Lindsey Vonn expecting to be more competitive come the Milan-Cortina Olympics in 2026 as she regains speed in her comeback from nearly six years of retirement, the U.S. women have multiple medal contenders in every event.

And the men in 2026 will be competing on a slope in Bormio where Ryan Cochran-Siegle has had some of the best results of his career.

At the last Winter Games in Beijing three years ago, Cochran-Siegle won the Americans’ only skiing medal with a silver in super-G while the women didn’t bring home any hardware at all.

“I don’t remember during the time that I’ve been skiing having this much depth,” Shiffrin said. “It’s been incredible to watch that build over the years and kind of culminating this world championships. And I hope it continues to build over the next year and the next several years.”

Rising speed skier Lauren Macuga started things off with a bronze in super-G; Breezy Johnson took a stunning victory in the downhill and then teamed with Shiffrin to win another gold in the team combined; and Moltzan earned a bronze in giant slalom.

Cochran-Siegle and partner Ben Ritchie came close to a medal when they finished one spot off the podium in combined.

The U.S. team hasn’t had this many medal threats since the days when Bode Miller, Ted Ligety, Vonn and Julia Mancuso were racing together.

The 40-year-old Vonn saw the potential as soon as she rejoined the team.

“I’m really proud of all of them. Lauren is 22 and she’s got a lot of amazing things ahead of her. And the fact that Breezy’s back after her injury -- her knee is pretty bad -- the fact that she’s world champion is incredibly impressive,” Vonn said.

Women’s skiing at the Olympics will be held in Cortina d’Ampezzo, where Vonn holds the record of 12 World Cup wins and where Jacqueline Wiles, another U.S. downhiller, has been on the podium twice.

“I am really excited for the Olympics next year because across the board, we have a lot of talent and a lot of potential,” Vonn said. “And I know we’re going to do incredible things together.”

Added Moltzan, “I think we can medal in every event.”

Cochran-Siegle earned the only World Cup victory of his career in Bormio four seasons ago and also has three other top-five finishes on the demanding Stelvio course.

“I’m hoping that as a team we’re competitive,” Cochran-Siegle said. “Nothing is given, everything is earned. But I’m hoping that it’s a really good Olympic venue.”

AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing

United States' A.J. Hurt and United States' Lindsey Vonn, right, smile at the finish area of a slalom run of a women's team combined event, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

United States' Lindsey Vonn is airborne during a women's downhill race, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

United States' Lindsey Vonn, left, shares a light moment with United States' Lauren Macuga, third-placed in a women's Super-G, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

United States' Paula Moltzan shows her bronze medal for a women's giant slalom, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

United States' Lauren Macuga celebrates moments before being given a bronze medal for a women's Super-G, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)

United States' Breezy Johnson shows her gold medal for a women's downhill and for a women's team combined event, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

United States' Mikaela Shiffrin, top left, and United States' Breezy Johnson, top right, celebrate with the team after winning the gold medal in a women's team combined event, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

United States' Mikaela Shiffrin, left, and United States' Breezy Johnson listen to the national anthem as they wear their gold medals for a women's team combined event, at the Alpine Ski World Championships, in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran on Tuesday denounced the most recent U.S. strikes as a sign of “bad faith and unreliability” as negotiations pressed on toward a possible deal to end the war, and the Islamic Republic began restoring internet access after one of the longest nationwide shutdowns ever.

The U.S. military characterized Monday's strikes in southern Iran as defensive, saying targets included missile launch sites and minelaying boats, and said the U.S. acted with “restraint" in light of the weekslong ceasefire.

Iran's foreign ministry called the strikes a ceasefire violation and warned that Washington would bear responsibility for “all consequences,” without elaborating.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran will leave no act of aggression unanswered,” it added in a statement.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said Tuesday that it shot down at least one drone and deterred another drone and a fighter jet that entered its airspace, according to Iran’s official Mizan news agency. It didn't specify when the incidents occurred.

Iran's supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, used a statement about Islam's annual Hajj pilgrimage to address his country's confrontation with the U.S. and Israel, declaring that other Mideast nations “will no longer serve as a shield” for U.S. military bases. Iran has previously complained about U.S. military facilities in the region and targeted them.

It was not immediately clear what the developments would mean for negotiations.

Iranian state TV reported Tuesday that Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi left Qatar, where talks had been taking place. The report did not elaborate or point to any next steps. In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio projected that talks on extending the ceasefire and reopening the crucial Strait of Hormuz will “take a few days."

Meanwhile, Iranian authorities eased a monthslong internet shutdown that they cast as a wartime necessity, but that has cost the country's economy an estimated $30 million to $40 million a day. Internet users reported that access was gradually being restored, at least in some places. State media reported that fixed broadband service was partially restored. Mobile internet wasn't yet working.

Iran has long enforced filters and policed content on platforms such as YouTube and Instagram. But before the war, Iranians could bypass restrictions with cheap virtual private networks, known as VPNs, and other easy workarounds.

Authorities cut off internet access in January during massive anti-government demonstrations and later began to relax those restrictions before imposing a complete internet blackout after the U.S. and Israel attacked on Feb. 28.

The internet outage made it difficult for Iranians outside the country to maintain contact with loved ones, and the lack of connectivity devastated the country’s relatively vibrant online businesses, putting further pressure on an already battered economy.

In other developments, Iran hanged a man it convicted of spying for Israel, the latest of more than two dozen allegedly espionage- and security-related executions since the war intensified a crackdown on dissent.

The Iranian judiciary’s news outlet, Mizanonline, identified the man as Gholamreza Khani Shakarab, calling him “a ringleader” for operations for Israel’s intelligence agency, the Mossad, and accusing him of recruiting members inside and outside Iran to work against the nation’s security. He was involved in sports and traveled to neighboring countries, according to the news agency.

Activists and rights groups say Iran routinely holds closed-door trials in which defendants are unable to challenge accusations and often are forced to confess.

The official judiciary agency said the country’s Supreme Court had upheld Shakarab's death sentence.

The U.S. strikes were the latest flare-up in the fragile ceasefire that began April 7 and has largely held.

Negotiations center in part on the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial waterway off southern Iran through which a fifth of the world's crude oil and natural gas passed before the war began. Once the fighting started, Tehran retaliated by effectively closing the strait, stranding hundreds of ships, shocking the global economy, disrupting energy markets and squeezing fertilizer supplies worldwide.

The full effect of the fertilizer crunch might not become clear until harvests that are months away. U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization Director-General Qu Dongyu, warned Tuesday at an event in Rome that “the decisions we make now will determine whether this remains a manageable shock or evolves into a deeper global food security crisis in 2026 and 2027 and beyond."

The strait has become a powerful lever for Tehran in talks, joining the long-running issue of Iran's nuclear program and its highly enriched uranium. Iran wants the U.S. to lift its military blockade of Iranian ports that began on April 17.

In the nearby Gulf of Oman, an explosion was reported Tuesday aboard a tanker, according to the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations Center. No one was injured, and there was no immediate information on the cause.

A woman crosses a street in front of a painting of the late Iranian revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini and paramilitary Basij forces in downtown Tehran, Iran, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Government supporters hold Iranian flags and pictures of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, during a ceremony honoring the armed forces and those killed in the war with Israel and the U.S. at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosque in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

President Donald Trump speaks during the 158th National Memorial Day Observance coinciding with the nation's 250th anniversary, at the Memorial Amphitheater in Arlington National Cemetery, Monday, May 25, 2026, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)